Merrimack College - Merrimackan Yearbook (North Andover, MA)

Page 13 text:

Father McQuade and the original trustees drew plans, se- cured land, and received on April 27, 1947 the charter from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that made Merrimack College a reality. That summer a cinder block classroom building was erected. One hundred and sixty-five students and a faculty of fourteen began classes on Septemb er 29, 1947. Faculty and student body increased as a new class was added each year until the present senior class became fresh- men in 1950. The first fruits of this institution came on June second 1951 when Merrimack College graduated its first class of 112 students. As the enrollment grew so too did the buildings. Two im- portant fund raising projects stimulated this physical growth. The Merrimack Association penny-sale in June 1948 pro- vided money for the erection of the college gymnasium, which was dedicated in November of that year. During the With . . . Father McQuade shows his char- acteristic concern for all aspects of the college as he supervises construction. This panoramic view of the permanent campus was taken during the con- struction of Austin Hall. Cushing Hall stands in the center foreground with Sullivan Hall to the left. To the right scaffolding masks the partially completed Austin Hall. jrt T -V. i ■a f . P t -V .. » . -mi • - r , i

Page 12 text:

Merrimack College is less than a decade old but its story is crowded with events. What was a dream in 1946 is in 1954 five hundred students in the regular sessions, some forty faculty members, and a group of graduates that will soon approximate four hundred in number. Six buildings on a hundred and forty-five acre campus form the present physical plant. The first event, the idea for a Merrimack, arose out of the deliberations of the veterans education panel of a Haverhill labor-management committee. This panel sought the assis- tance of Archbishop Richard J. Cushing of Bostori, and His Excellency announced in June of 1946 that the Augustinian Fathers had agreed to found the new college of the Merri- mack Valley. That December the Augustinian Order ap- pointed the Very Reverend Vincent A. McQuade, O.S.A. as President of the new institution of higher learning. Our Campus Rises j Scaffolding the temporary sinews of the completed brick structure is a familiar sight on the campus of Merrimack. Above, we view Austin Hall near completion.

Page 14 text:

Buildings fall of the same year plans were formulated for the mammoth drive for funds for the college to be held throughout the Merrimack Valley in the late spring and summer of 1949. Over eight thousand solicitors secured pledges aggregating well over the original goal of one million dollars. Fortified with this fund the College initiated construction of the red brick buildings on the permanent campus. This program continued uninterruptedly until the summer of 1952. First to he erected was the science building, Cushing